Note: RTO7’s offer of the Partnership Program for 2019/20 is contingent upon Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport approval of RTO7’s business plan.

Festivals are BIG here. With over 500 identified festivals and events across BruceGreySimcoe, they help to form the backbone of why it’s so great to come here. Some events are small and geared towards the locals, while other festivals are huge and help to drive the economic engine of a community by attracting thousands of tourists.

The May 2014 report – RTO7: Regional Strategic Plan for Festivals and Events by Sierra Planning and Management, (available on www.rto7data.ca), identified that many of the festivals and events across BruceGreySimcoe needed to build capacity, create sustainability and develop stronger marketing strategies. The Festival Implementation Program is designed to help well established and regional/emerging festivals (please see program criteria below for definitions), to achieve at least one of the following things:

Demonstrate how your festival is becoming more sustainable

Increase the quality of the festival and/or

Target a new audience to attend the festival (40km+ radius from the host community)

If a festival can demonstrate a financial investment of at least $1,000 towards achieving at least one of the items listed above, they may be eligible to receive $1,000 - $2,500 from RTO7 towards a digital advertising campaign. The festival partner must be able to match RTO7’s contribution through this investment in themselves. The partner is required to provide receipts to prove their contribution.